Our 5 year old is thrilled to be joining her older sister at Carthay Center Elementary School.
My husband is the only one reading my blog so far, and he thinks I sound like a bitter white Jewish liberal mother who is questioning our choice to send our daughters to our local school.
Not so!! Well, true, I am White, Jewish & liberal, but I a NOT bitter! Well, I guess I am little bit bitter ( let me see if I can find a way to include ‘make the bitter batter better’ in this post!) about others not making the same choice, but I am not doubting our decision to send our kids there. I am going to brag for a minute, not to make others feel bad about their schools (y’all probably have the higher scores & raise more money), but just to focus on our positives…
REASONS I LOVE CARTHAY CENTER SCHOOL:
1. Dynamic Principal – Ms. Tracy Calhoun, who attracts enthusiastic teachers, fosters a sense of community at the school, is engaged and communicative with parents and very responsive to student’s needs.
2. Great teachers – each one has been enthusiastic & unique and exposed our 8 year old to different learning experiences.
3. THE GARDEN. Just drive by on Crescent Heights and you will see our amazing garden. I think having done a bit a weeding and digging there over the years sure gave me a sense of pride and ownership of it. Plus, there is a great garden science program centered in the garden where kids, including mine, learn about growing all sorts of plants, fruits and vegetables. They end up trying and liking vegetables they never try at home. There are even 2 chickens now in the chicken coop that are laying eggs…
4. The building & grounds- it has this adorable indoor auditorium with a cute stage where the kids do their plays, award ceremonies, etc. There is a small but nice grass field. The rooms are big and air conditioned. It feels like a real school as opposed to some charter schools around that are stuck in the back of other schools that aren’t happy to house them. Plus, even though the grounds are pretty good as they are, we have won a huge grant to re-do the outdoor space into a dynamic interactive park that people will want to come to on the weekends.
5. It is a small school. – my kids know other teachers and kids from other grades and it seems like the older kids look after the little ones.
6. LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION! it is less than a mile away from us and a pleasant scenic walk.
7. STAR program – the school has a grant to provide free after school program run by STAR, a gifted program out of Culver City. Part of the free program includes theater, dance, math, language arts, sports, lego projects, technology and weekly wild animal presentations from STAR’s exotic pet rescue center.
8. California Dance Institute (C.D.I)- 3rd and 4th graders (and ocassionally k-garteners) get to participate in this amazing inclusive dance program that culminates in a fantastic multi-school show in June at the Wilshire Ebell Theater.
9. Writer’s Workshop – A Columbia University developed method of writing instruction.
10. Nice unpretentious parents.
11. Uniforms – LOVE this idea and it really helps getting the kids out the door in the morning without a fuss about their clothes. As they get older the kids get less enthusiastic, but the school allows for individualism with college shirt Thursdays and free-dress Fridays.
oh, and don’t forget – A bit of better batter makes the bitter batter better.
ourlocalschool 
April
Love it Naomi! And no, your husband isn’t the only one reading it! You crack me up! April
Naomi
Well, he was the only one until I posted it on facebook!
tamaraeden
I am now reading and will share! I don’t know if you know but I started a blog back in 2005 I believe. It still lives online though I never/rarely post. I still, however, am an avid blog reader and as my interests change I change my postings 🙂
I have a few mommy bloggers I read because I’m envious of the school lunches they pack their kids!
Anyway…you’re an amazing mommy yourself and your girls are lucky to have you. I drive by the garden often and always think how cool it is! Can I come to a wild animal show?? 🙂
Nicole Slavin
Bravo, Naomi, for choosing to support your neighborhood school. We have made the same choice and are very lucky so many other parents in our neighborhood (with greater means than ours) have done so as well. I love being able to walk to and from, my kids having friends who live close, and feeling connected to this place. Thank you for sharing your experience.
Julia Stone
Hi Nomes…I’m reading it too and find it fascinating. Good for you!!
Natasha
hi Naomi–A friend posted the link to your blog, and I was curious to hear your story. We live in Brooklyn, and are making the same choice, though our school sounds less inviting than yours (cement play yard where the kids are discouraged from running in case they fall and hurt themselves). Our daughter went to pre-K there and is about to go to kindergarten. We had a good experience last year, and we’re hoping for the best this year. The school has high academic standards, but we’ll be one of the few non-immigrant families there. All of our daughter’s neighborhood friends wangled their way into another neighborhood school with similar demographics, lower test scores, but a slighter whiter student body–code word “more parent involvement” and “more diversity.” Not sure at all that we’ve made the right choice–it’s such a fraught decision.
Thanks for blogging about how it’s been for you!
Natasha
Naomi
Hi Natasha, thanks for reading my blog.
What a wondeful opportunity for your daughter! Your daughter is going to develop people and intercultural skills along with her academics.How is she doing there as the school year progresses? Are you happy with your decision so far?
totheparentsof
Reblogged this on totheparentsof.
Allen Cohen
I am very proud of you for your ideas, ideals and writing skills.
(proud papa)
Naomi
Thanks, Dad! I think mom would have liked it too. I remember when she was a substitute teacher in my class a couple of days in Miami.
Allen
Mom would have loved it too.
kirstin
You make such excellent points. We’re starting our 4th year at Carthay and are very satisfied with everything starting with the pre-K program there. And we adored walking to school until we moved this summer and now we have to drive.
Naomi
Thanks for reading and commenting, Kirstin. I know you are straddling two schools right now. You are going to gain some valuable insight that I hope you will be honest and share when you figure out what is best for your kids and your family.
sdmc
As an African American who has spent a lot of time being the only person like me in some of the most elite schools and professional environments, I must say that is is getting to be funny to see how afraid some white Americans are to be in any kind of a minority, and to witness the mental contortions some go through to avoid the obvious truth that they are racists. Sometimes I just want to remind people that it won’t rub off, lol.
As a highly educated professional from a family of highly educated professionals, I was worried about sending my genius (sarcasm) to school with the children of the riff-raff (white riff and black raff, it was all the same to me, lol). I was worried that riff and raff might indeed rub off on my precious. But I gave it a shot. Jeez, folks! It’s just kindergarten!
The thing is that after 6 years at Carthay I learned that all parents want the best for their children, brown parents, black, yellow, red and white parents. And, as a result of the evolutionary imperative that the majority of parents want the best for their children, Carthay’s excellent teachers, fantastic principal and outstanding programs resulted in my child learning and growing right along with all the other neighborhood children. And, by the looks of the rising test scores, it seems that riff and raff were learning and growing along side of my son. Who’d have thunk it?
Mia Pardo
Dear smdc,
I’m curious to see if anyone will respond to your response to Naomi’s entry about reasons to love Carthay. I know what you mean when you talk about “the mental contortions some go through to avoid the obvious truth…” that they don’t want to have their kids go to school with mostly black kids. I’ve heard several white parents in the area say that the reason they don’t want their kids to go to school there is not because they don’t want their kids to go to school with blacks or Latinos, but because they don’t want them to be in the minority. Does that truly mean that they are racist? I think it probably does, but why don’t they think that this is a racist line of thinking?
Mia
nonie ganakis
i just love that you are writing about this naomi. it inspires me to think about how i can support our public school. the other entries also reminded me of the angst we all feel when watching our kids navigate social groups- it hits so close to home. keep on blogging!
Cohen, Allen
Keep up the inspired writing
Dad
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